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Thursday

Dirk Nowitzki. What can you say about him? Well, for one, he put his Dallas Maverick teammates on his back and carried them to the 2011 NBA Championship over the, ahem, "dream team" in Miami. (To be fair, Jason Terry, Jason Kidd, Tyson Chandler and crew also had a very good NBA finals performance). He's also, with considerably strong competition, the best NBA athlete to ever wear the jersey number 41. (And to be fair to Miami, they did make it to the NBA finals in their first season together. Although some would say they should have, with the talent they had).

Quite simply, Nowitzki is one of the best forwards to ever play the NBA game. After being selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the 1998 NBA draft, his rights were traded to the Dallas Mavericks. And boy, the Mavericks are glad they made that trade.

Between the 1998-99 and 2010-11 NBA seasons, Nowitzki has achieved the following:

22,792 points (28th all-time)

23 points per game (23rd all-time)

2006-07 NBA MVP

2010-11 NBA Finals MVP

.877 free-throw percentage (14th all-time)

1,197 three-pointers (39th all-time)

11-time All-NBA team

10-time NBA All-Star

2010-11 NBA Champion

8,315 rebounds

The combination of outside shooting ability, including a strong three-point shooting skill, with rebounding and free-throw dominance is not common in the NBA, or any league for that matter. Nowitzki is a well-rounded forward who can take control of a game. The 2010-11 NBA Finals showcased that skill.

Did you know...........that Dirk has averaged more than 25 points-per-game in the 11 consecutive NBA season playoffs that he has led his Mavericks to?